Red Bull's Mark Webber hit with grid penalty

Red Bull's Mark Webber will drop three places on the grid at the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend after he was adjudged to have caused a collision with Jean-Eric Vergne in Shanghai on Sunday.

Red Bull's Webber was hauled before race stewards after his premature end at the Chinese Grand Prix, capping a dreadful weekend for the Australian that saw him start the race in the pit lane after a fuel problem in qualifying.

Stewards said in their ruling that Webber took the blame for the prang with Toro Rosso's Vergne which left Webber's car with damage to its front. Webber retired soon after when he lost a wheel.

Webber believed he had enough room to overtake.

"I think Mark could not have got through from where he tried and I'm not even sure if he was trying to pass me. Certainly I didn't even know he was there," said Vergne, who was able to continue the race, finishing 12th.

"Unfortunately, the impact put me into a spin and the incident damaged my floor. From then I lost a lot of downforce. It was not a good race from then on, having lost a lot of time and having to drive a damaged car."

Separately, Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez will drop five places on the Bahrain grid after stewards penalised him for his collision with Force India's Adrian Sutil, forcing both men out the race.